On Tuesday we had a visitor in our social media class, David Youngblood, the editor-in-chief of OSU’s Daily O’Collegian. David wanted to hear some of our suggestions for managing the O’Colly’s newly created Twitter account (@OColly). One thing that came to mind was the updates need to be consistent. The O’Colly is a daily paper for students so it needs to be communicating through every channel each day that the paper is available. Also, because not many students visit the O’Colly Web site, updates on Twitter should often include a link for easy access to the site. By posting the link to an article, students may re-post it for their followers and then it’s shared with a whole new audience outside of OSU.

What the O’Colly needs is feedback from students. While there’s the option of writing a letter to the editor or visiting the site to leave a comment, it’s uncommon that students make the effort. With Twitter, it’s easy to see headlines for stories and what kind of comments have already been made. The O’Colly staff wants to hear what students think about the articles in order to make it a reliable, informative and entertaining resource.

The O’Colly has definitely made the right choice by forming a Twitter account and they should be open to different kinds of updates. Some options may be links to articles not published in the paper, requests for feedback from students about the paper or any newsworthy topic, weather updates or maybe even pictures from on the job and inside the newsroom. I think OSU students on Twitter have a lot to say in order to help the paper and now there’s an easier way to communicate those messages.

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

Related

I agree that they have made the right choice in getting a twitter, the question will be whether or not they choose to take it seriously. They have to understand that the digital format IS the future of media and the longer they choose to ignore it, the more it will hurt them. I’m not very optimistic for their chances and won’t be until they make a legit effort to take it seriously.